Washington Marijuana Legalization Initiative Hands in Signatures

New Approach Washington, the organizers of the I-502 marijuana legalization and regulation initiative, last week handed in 350,000 voter signatures to try to qualify for the November ballot. They turned in 341,000 last Thursday and another 10,000 last Friday, the last day to hand them in.

The campaign needs 241,153 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. With some 350,000 signatures handed in, the campaign has a considerable cushion to account for duplicate and other invalid signatures, meaning it is likely to qualify for the ballot, but it will take state officials several weeks to make that determination.

If the measure meets the valid signature threshold, it then goes before the state legislature. If the legislature doesn't approve it, it then goes before the voters in November.

I-502 would allow Washington adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, which would be sold at pot-only stores licensed and regulated by the state Liquor Control Board. Marijuana cultivation for the state stores would also be licensed and regulated by the board. Estimated excise, business, and sales revenues of $215 million a year would be split between the state's general fund and certain earmarked public health and prevention programs.

I-502 would also create a per se DUID standard of five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood, which has become a contentious issue in the state's marijuana and medical marijuana communities. According to the Associated Press, those divisions were on display Thursday as New Approach Washington members handed in signatures.

The AP reported that about a dozen demonstrators carrying signs reading "Legalize, Don't Penalize" shouted and chanted as the signatures were turned in. "New Approach, telling lies, we don't want your DUIs," the protesters chanted.

The "lies" to which the protestors referred are New Approach Washington's arguments that including the per se DUID language is a pragmatic measure designed to blunt fears of drugged driving among voters, that Washington already has a drugged driving law, and that the measure is unlikely to result in a wave of DUID arrests of medical marijuana patients due to the "probable cause" requirement that a driver demonstrate signs of impairment before a police officer may order a drug test.

The unhappy patients have organized as Patients Against I-502. The initiative is also drawing opposition from the folks at Sensible Washington, who echo the anti-DUID argument and also argue for a measure that would allow for personal home cultivation and with fewer restrictions overall. Sensible Washington tried unsuccessfully for two years to get its initiative on the ballot and failed for lack of funding. New Approach Washington, on the other hand, has managed to garner the support and raise the funds to gather the necessary signatures.

It looks like marijuana legalization is going to be on the ballot in Washington this year. It also looks like Washington won't be alone; a Colorado legalization initiative is well-advanced in its signature gathering phase and appears set to make the ballot after turning in nearly twice the required signatures this week. But competing legalization initiatives in California and Oregon don't appear nearly as well positioned to break through the signature ceiling, although that could change if some funding angel appears.